Colleges

Course Description: **Theoretical:** * Introduction to date palm science * Cultivation areas locally, regionally, and globally * Environmental requirements (climate & soil) * Agricultural practices (irrigation, fertilization, pruning, thinning, disease control, yield) * Specific date palm agricultural practices (bending, bagging, de-thorning, etc.) * Identification of specific phenomena related to the palm and fruits (fruit splitting, apical bending, sex determination, parthenocarpic fruits, etc.) * Yield (harvesting, storage, and marketing) * Important pests (insect and microbial) **Practical:** * Morphological and structural description of the date palm and fruit * Different date palm varieties (soft, semi-dry, and dry) locally, regionally, and internationally, and how to distinguish between them * Palm propagation methods (seed, offshoot, tissue culture) * Methods of separating and planting offshoots * Date palm nurseries * Establishment and planning of a date palm orchard * Specific terminology for date palms locally, regionally, and internationally.